Letters: It's up to us, not politicians, to fix Detroit

May 3, 2013

I am a 27-year-old black male from Detroit. I love my city with all my heart. Itís hard to watch the news and hear about the bad things going in Detroit. I recently left Detroit and moved to Texas. I left for the same reasons most people leave. I wanted to seek better opportunities and an overall better life. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Itís especially hard because I didnít plan to ďrun awayĒ from the city I love because life was rough. My plan was to fight for a better Detroit, and do my part while living there. Even though I live in Texas, I keep Detroit in my heart.

People often ask me, why do you love Detroit so much? I think Detroit has the recipe for unity. People from all backgrounds and walks of life are giving back. Go downtown, or to the Brightmoor community and look at the things that are going on. There are so many beautiful gardens, murals and businesses opening up. A lot of people try to depict the city as this third-world country. Detroit is a place where hope for a brighter tomorrow lives. Instead of all the negative talk, try being uplifting or doing something to help Detroit out. We understand the problem, now we have to fix it. It canít just depend on the politicians to save our city, we have to ó the people.

Ivan Tarver

Haltom City, Texas

Why up risk of danger to help a billionaire?

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun is pushing hard to remove an 84-year-old regulation that protects the traveling public and our critical national infrastructure. Moroun wants to allow hazardous materials to cross his bridge.

Fire and emergency responders have said it would be difficult to respond to an incident. Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry, the legal crossing for these trucks today, could go out of business, leaving Moroun monopoly control of local trucks crossing the border.

Why would a change to regulations be proposed that would limit competition and increase the catastrophic risk to our transportation system?

Gregg M. Ward

Dearborn

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What's the motivation for pushing war?

The GOP in the U.S. Senate and House sure are in a hurry to get us in another war. Whatís wrong? Is the sequester hurting your defense contractorsí wallets? Youíre not the ones fighting to keep us safe in this country, itís our kids in the military that are doing it. Getting killed or maimed for the rest of their lives to make the rich get richer. Perhaps all of you should enlist or re-enlist so you can lead by example.

George Kaleniecki

Detroit

Collins should be applauded, but is no Jackie Robinson

Though what pro basketball player Jason Collins did, being the first active athlete in a major U.S. menís sport to publicly admit that he is gay, is courageous, comparing him with baseball legend Jackie Robinson is going too far, and doing Robinson an injustice. Robinson was young and in his prime when he became the first ó and for a time, the only ó black baseball player in Major League Baseball, suffered intolerable, disgusting and unimaginable humiliation and prejudice, and lived during a time when racism was still strong in America.

On the other hand, Collins is near the end of his pro career, was never the star Robinson was, lives in a more tolerant age, in which gay people are more accepted by society, is probably one of many gay people in pro sports today, and isnít as easily visible as Robinson was.